They looked to their general to provide for them, and consequently a successful general, who could furnish plenty of opportunities for plunder, was always sure of a following. It was plunder, not pay, that rewarded these soldiers. Caesar changed this somewhat by giving his soldiers adequate pay, but this remained the basic ration, as it were, and the looting of a great town and the plundering of foreign land and settlements was what the soldier hoped for. At the same time, being now a professional, he was landless and, when it came to his retirement, looked to his general to provide him with a big enough plot for him to settle and engage those other talents inherited from his peasant forebears.

Another great change that Marius made was to give each soldier an identification with his own particular legion. Whereas previously the legions had been disbanded at the end of every campaign—so that continuity was lost—the legions were now given numbers and a distinctive standard, the eagle. These were to Roman troops what the Colours became to British infantry in later centuries. The loss of an eagle was a disgrace to a legion which would one day have to be redeemed by blood. Another of Marius’ major changes was to cut down the size of the baggage trains, which had previously both held up the pace of the army and provided a desirable object for plunder. Marius saw to it that these were both better organized and reduced, thus increasing mobility. At the same time he had to compensate for this loss of immediate provisions by turning each soldier into his own food carrier. So, in addition to his sword, his spear, his entrenching tool, stakes for palisades and so on, the Roman soldier now also carried his own essential supplies. Jokingly, they referred to themselves as “Marius’ mules.”

The eagle was the standard of the whole legion and, by Caesar’s time, it was made of silver and gold. When the legion marched, it was carried by the senior centurion and guarded by the first cohort of the troops: otherwise it never left camp. There were also special standards for each cohort (a gold hand, for instance, or a series of silver discs) and special banners or flags which bore the name of the legion. All these trappings of war had the same intention—of inspiring regimental spirit, a dedication to one’s own legion, and rivalry with others. Eagles, standards and flags were attached to long poles, ending in an iron-shod point so that they could be stuck in the earth. The poles were fitted with hand-grips so that, when planted in muddy or awkward ground, the bearer could quickly hoist them free whenever the order came to move.

By the time of Caesar the arms of the legionary had been streamlined from an earlier complexity into two only—the sword and the spear. Swords were basically of a type that the Roman had first encountered in Spain. They had a double-cutting edge and a stabbing-point, were sheathed in a metal-bound leather scabbard, and hung on the legionary’s right hand side. The blade-length of a standard sword was 50-56 cm. The spears came in two main types; both were throwing spears, known as a pilum, and one was a light-weight and the other a heavy-weight. Both were constructed on the same principle: a long metal shaft which ended in a spear point was attached to a wooden shaft. It was thus quite unlike the simple spears of antiquity and, when sunk deep into a man or horse, instead of simply standing proud as a wooden spear would have done, the pilum with its soft iron neck would bend at the point where it joined the wooden stick. A horse thus struck would very likely be brought to the ground, and a man transfixed would be unable to run away but held on the spot by the curve that the pilum had now become.

The Caesarian legionary was protected by a mail shirt that hung about halfway down his thighs, under which he wore a leather jerkin, and on his head what is called a Montefortino helmet (so-called after the cemetery where an example was found). This type of helmet had protective cheek pieces and was pear-shaped, rising to a lead-filled topknot which held a horsehair crest. A rim ran around the bottom of the helmet, swept out farther at the back to protect the neck against glancing blows. The shield was oval-shaped and, to judge from one example found in Egypt, was made from laminated strips of wood—in this case birch which had then been covered with lamb’s wool felt. Shields were often leather covered, and were metal-rimmed and carried a metal boss in the center. Greaves were rarely worn by the ordinary legionary, and his equipment ended in his heavy leather sandals, leather-laced over the foot and up round the ankles, the soles studded with iron nails.

The famed centurion was undoubtedly the backbone of the Roman army. Senior officers might come and go, but centurions were the only lifetime officers.